This year the posting guidlines for Dark Days are a little different. Last year I had to make and post about a dinner each week throughout the challenge. This year, to make it a little easier on the hostess (and her volunteer summarizers), the posts are only summarized twice a month. So, even though I have been cooking a meal each week, I haven’t been good about posting weekly. This post, like my lst Dark Days post, contains multiple dinners.

Pink Poatatoes!?!

First up, braised rabbit from Bunny Hop Ranch with pink mashed potatoes, rabbit gravy and 9 Bean Rows bread.
I usually get my rabbit from Olds Farm, but I was at Oleson’s, a local gocer, and found this local rabbit in their meat case. Hopefully soon we’ll have our own rabbit meat; our buck is just old enough to start breeding.
The preparation was simple. I seasoned the meat with salt, pepper and garlic, seared it on each side in a cast iron skillet, added a little water and threw it in the oven until it was finished. Add the remaining liquid in the pan to some roux (equal parts flour and butter cooked together until they are golden) and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until a gravy forms.
The potatoes really are pink! I don’t know what variety they are, but they came from Nic Welty at 9 Bean Rows. Wash them, cut them into chunks and throw them into a pot of boiling salted water. Cook until tender, drain and mash skins and all with some Shetler’s Dairy milk and butter.

Second on the docket, shepherd’s pie.

Shepherd's-Upside-Down-Pie?

Sautee some ground beef (I don’t remember which vendor at the market I got it from this time) with an onion from my garden. Add some salt, pepper and garlic.

Meanwhile, boil a pot of Westmaas farms red-skinned potatoes. Mash the potatoes with milk and butter, season as you like.

Spread the cooked ground beef in a cast-iron skillet, casserole or dutch oven. Spread a layer of mashed potatoes on top of the beef. Cover the whole pan with shredded Raclette cheese from Blackstar Farms and bake until the cheese melts.

4 responses to “Dark Days #2”

The Dark Days Challenge is a challenge set up by Laura at the (not so) Urban Hennery. ( http://urbanhennery.com/ )
The challenge is to eat at least one meal a week from ingredients sourced as locally as possible during the darkest part of the year (winter). Anyone can figure out a meal or two a week in the summer when gardens and farmers’ markets are in full swing but it takes a little more work to do it in the winter. She wants to show that eating locally and sustainably can be done year-round.